Various vessels have been developed which serve to contain and promote the culture of cells taken from animal and vegetable tissues. Such devices include, but are not limited to, dishes, multi-well plates, flasks, and bottles. Typically, these vessels have a substantially flat bottom for the attachment and growth of the cells. The bottom surface is commonly plasma-, flame-, or chemically-treated to enable cell attachment through cellular attachment factors; vessels directly coated with attachment- and growth-promoting biomolecules are also available. Most vessels are disposable and produced from clear polystyrene or other rigid thermoplastic material.
Prior to the advent of plastic cultureware, cells were grown in glass vessels because glass is inexpensive, easy to sterilize, and can be made conducive to cell attachment. Later, cell culture vessels made from injection-molded polystyrene were introduced to capitalize upon this material's low cost, rapid moldability, and clarity. Today, most cell culture vessels continue to be produced using injection-molded polystyrene. The cellular microenvironment of such vessels is generally hypoxic and may require some means of enhancing gas exchange through the media—such as a bubbling apparatus—to prevent the media from becoming CO2-rich and O2-poor and thus depriving the growing cell mass of the gas balance needed for functional metabolic respiration.
Adherent-dependent cells typically become flattened against the growth surface and will generally grow to a confluent monolayer a single cell layer deep. Compared to cells in vivo, cells grown in vitro have compromised metabolic function: Some cell products and surface molecules are not expressed; those that are expressed are often produced in amounts significantly below physiological levels. Additionally, the cells lose their natural morphology and fail to grow into a 3-dimensional mass representative of in vivo tissue. To promote 3-dimensional growth, micro-scaffolds have been developed; yet, such scaffolds are commonly expensive to produce and difficult to apply. Moreover, micro-scaffolds are generally limited in their 3-dimensional capacities since cells internal to the growing cell mass are significantly removed from the perimeter where gas exchange occurs with the growth media. It is notable that, in vivo, cells are on average positioned no more than three cell diameters away from a capillary.
Primary cells—cells cultured from tissues taken directly from an organism—are difficult to grow and have limited longevity. Also, these cells generally require passaging at relatively short intervals: If the cells are not frequently removed from the growth surface, resuspended, split (diluted in cell count per unit volume), and re-seeded into a new culture vessel, the growing cell mass will usually senesce or die within a period of 10 days or less.
Reference Numerals100 vessel101 vessel bottom102 vessel sides103 bottom inner surface104 bottom outer surface105 side inner surface106 side outer surface107 inner bottom-side radius108 outer bottom-side radius109 surface texture110 vessel top orifice200 vessel201 peripheral flange202 suspensory element203 thru-hole204 supporting surface205 multiple-vessel array206 vessel top edge207 thru-hole inside bore208 upper annular flange208′ lower annular flange209 annular groove300 standoff frame301 bottom support lattice302 windows in support lattice303 spacer features304 standoff frame305 lateral support lattice306 suspensory element307 thru-holes308 spacer features400 standoff features401 lid500 multiple-vessel array501 suspensory element502 legs503 lid504 vessel top surface505 thru-holes506 suspensory rack top surface507 support surface600 multiple-vessel array601 suspensory rack602 lid603 suspensory element604 array of thru-holes605 suspensory rack side-walls606 windows in rack side-walls607 upper side-wall608 lower side-wall609 lid skirt elements610 rim700 vessel701 cover702 cap703 support lattice704 vessel flange705 lid flange706 snap-fit element707 standoff features